System and method for uniform control of local and remote applications in a data processing network

ABSTRACT

A workstation and data processing network in which having an application selection mode simultaneously displaying representations of both local and remote applications from which either remote or local applications may be started using a common selection procedure. When a remote application is selected a surrogate application is run on the workstation which establishes a communication with the remote processor. The provision of this common selection procedure means that the workstation is easier to use.

This application is the national phase of international applicationPCT/GB89/00883, having an international filing data of Aug. 3, 1989.

This invention relates to the field of workstations, data processingnetworks containing workstations and to methods of operatingworkstations and data processing networks. More particularly, thisinvention relates to workstations and data processing networks usingwhich a user may carry out data processing using local or remoteapplications.

There is a trend in computing to link data processors together to formdata processing networks. The processors within such networks may shareresources such as data storage devices or communications equipment andmay also share the data processing load. Typically, each user has hisown intelligent workstation which is connected to one or more mainframecomputer systems.

Certain data processing applications, such as those that require a largeamount of user interaction, will be best suited to being carried outlocally by the local processor of the user's workstation. Other dataprocessing applications, such as those that require a large amount ofnumeric processing or have shared data, will be best suited to beingcarried out by the remote processor of a mainframe computer system.Still further applications may be best carried out by being partiallyprocessed by the local processor and partially by the remote processor.

With the ever increasing use of computer systems by nonexperts it isdesirable that the systems be as simple as possible to use.

Viewed from one aspect the present invention provides a workstation witha local processor for running local applications and a communicationsystem for linking said workstation to at least one remote processor forrunning remote applications characterised in that said workstationprovides an application selection mode for a user in whichrepresentations of both local and remote applications are simultaneouslydisplayed at said workstation and when a remote application is selectedby said user a surrogate application running on said local processorestablishes communication with said remote processor via saidcommunication system, whereby selection of a remote application may bemade in the same manner as selection of a local application.

The present invention thus both recognises and overcomes the problem ofthe additional complexity for the user that has previously beenassociated with workstations capable of running both local and remoteapplications. Prior art workstations have required that the user shouldstart local and remote applications in different ways. The inventionprovides a system which has the advantage of being easier to use thanprior art systems by providing a single mode and display from which allthe different sorts of application may be started. Accordingly, the userneed not be aware whether the application selected is local or remoteand may run a plurality of such local and remote applications at any onetime.

The present invention provides this function using a surrogateapplication which is run by the local processor when a remoteapplication is selected. The fact that the surrogate application is runon the workstation means that the surrogate application can startrunning on the workstation in the same manner as a normal localapplication. Once the surrogate application has been activated it willundertake the necessary steps (e.g. by keystroke emulation) to activatethe required remote application.

There are prior art systems in which the user may select between one ofa number of different local applications by highlighting a localapplication name from a list of local application names. Such systemsprovide a way of starting local applications that is particularly easyfor the user to understand and remember.

There are other prior art systems in which the user can gain access to aremote processor by entering an abbreviated title for that remoteprocessor. These systems operate by automatically emulating thekeystrokes that the user needs to provide to gain access to that remoteprocessor and start the remote application running. These prior artsystems thus automatically provide the information such as theelectronic address of the remote processor, the user's identificationnumber and the user's password.

There have been no prior art systems in which it has been possible toselect both local and remote applications from a single applicationselection mode in which representations of the applications aredisplayed.

In preferred embodiments of the present invention said communicationsystem enables access by said workstation to a plurality of remoteapplications. This feature of providing a communication system capableof communicating with more than one remote application at a time has asynergistically advantageous effect when combined with the presentinvention. This feature means there is no need to treat remoteapplications differently from local applications by having to make surethat only a single remote application is running at any one time.

Another feature of preferred embodiments of the present invention isthat said workstation provides a common selection procedure for startingboth local and remote applications. This feature leads to the advantagethat the user need only know one procedure (e.g. highlighting the desireapplication by manipulating a mouse) to start both sorts of application.

It will be appreciated that the representations of the applicationscould take a number of forms such as icons. However, a further featureof preferred embodiments of the present invention is that said commonselection procedure comprises said user selecting an application from alist of applications presented to said user. Extending this procedure ofselecting local applications to also include remote applications has theadvantage that the users are already familiar with this way ofinteracting with a computer system thereby allowing less expert userseasy access to remote applications. The extension of this selectionprocedure to remote applications is made possible by the presentinvention's use of a surrogate application.

The present invention is particularly useful for use with systems usingdisplay windows. Display windows are areas of the display though which aparticular application or function communicates with the user. Usually,the size and position of the windows within the displays may be variedby the user and the windows may be overlapped. Such systems provide aclear and easy to understand way in which a user may interact with amultitasking system. The present invention when combined with awindowing display provides a system for running both local and remoteapplications in which the user is sheltered from complications arisingfrom the use of remote applications and provided with a simple userinterface for interacting with the applications.

Viewed from a second aspect the present invention provides a method ofoperating a workstation having a local processor for running localapplications and a communication system for linking said workstation toat least one remote processor for running remote applicationscharacterised in that said workstation provides an application selectionmode for a user in which representations of both local and remoteapplications are simultaneously displayed at said workstation and uponselection of a remote application by said user a surrogate applicationrunning on said local processor establishes communication with saidremote processor via said communication system, whereby selection of aremote application may be made in the same manner as selection of alocal application.

The present invention can also be viewed as a data processing networkhaving workstations with the above features and a method of operatingsuch a data processing network.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an data processing network of the typein which the present invention may be embodied.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an application selection mode andcommon selection procedure which can be used for both local and remoteapplications.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the software structure of a programimplementation of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a data processing network comprising a plurality ofworkstations (2) which are directly connected via a communication system(4) to a plurality of mainframe computers (6). The workstations may alsobe indirectly connected to other mainframe computers (8) via themainframe computers (6) to which they are directly connected.

The workstations (2) contain local processors for running localapplications and the mainframe computers (6, 8) contain remoteprocessors for running remote applications. It will also be clearlyappreciated that an application may be distributed between local andremote processors in the sense that some of the applications functions(e.g. user interaction) are carried out locally whereas other functions(e.g. large scale numeric processing) are carried out remotely. Whensuch a distributed application is started by a single selection it hasthe effect of starting both the local part application and the remotepart of the application. The remote part of such a distributedapplication can be started in the same manner as an application that isentirely remote.

FIG. 2 illustrates a selection procedure for selecting both local andremote applications. The workstation (2) displays the applicationselection menu (10) in the form of a pop down menu. The display alsoincludes a number or overlapping windows (11) through which the userinteracts with the various applications being run. The use of windows asa way of displaying information is well understood by users.

The application selection menu (10) presents a list of applicationsavailable to the user. Some of these applications, such as the wordprocessor and spreadsheet, run on the local processor of the workstation(2), some, such as graphics and archive search, will run on the remoteprocessor of a mainframe (6, 8), whereas applications such as electronicmail will run on both the local and remote processors.

The user selects an application from the list by using a mouse ormanipulating the cursor keys to change the application highlighted tothat which the user wishes to start. FIG. 2 shows the graphicsapplication highlighted. When the correct application is highlighted theuser can press the appropriate button on the mouse or press the returnkey on the keyboard to select that application and start it running.

FIG. 3 illustrates the software structure of an embodiment of thepresent invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat the individual software elements can be defined in many differentways and programmed in many different computer languages. What isimportant is the functions performed by the various software elementsand the detailed coding of these elements is a matter of routine. Itwill also be clear that alternative software structures are possible.

The workstation (2) is controlled by an operating system (12) which isof the multitasking windowing type. The workstation also holds asurrogate application (14), a workstation remote application manager(16) and workstation communications program (18). The mainframe (6, 8)holds the mainframe application (20), which may wholly reside on themainframe or be the mainframe part of a distributed application. Themainframe (6, 8) also holds a mainframe remote application manager (22)and mainframe communications program (24).

The communications programs (18, 24) are responsible for packaging,sending, receiving and checking the information flowing between theworkstation (2) and the mainframe (6,8). Programs for performing thefunctions of the communication handler are known in the art. Theworkstation remote application manager (16) is responsible forresponding to the surrogate applications (14) request to start theremote application and passing messages to and from the remoteapplication once it is started. The mainframe communications program(24) performs essentially the same function as the workstationcommunications program (18) and the mainframe remote application manager(22) is responsible for starting the mainframe application (20) androuting messages to and from it. The remote application managers (16,22) are also responsible for ensuring that the routing of messages toand from the appropriate application is maintained when more than oneremote application is being run at any one time.

The system operates in the following manner. When a user selects aremote application the workstation operating system (12) starts thesurrogate application (14). The surrogate application (14) determinesthe appropriate electronic address, user identifier and password forthat user on the mainframe (6, 8) that runs the requested remoteapplication from a lookup table and passes these to the workstationremote application manager (16). The workstation communications programthen establishes communication with the appropriate mainframe (6, 8)using the data passed to it by the workstation remote applicationhandler (16). There are many known different protocols and instructionsthat the workstation communication handler (16) may use to establishcommunication and these need not be described in detail.

In the mainframe (6, 8) the mainframe communications program (24)receives the messages from the host and passes them to the mainframeremote application manager (22). The mainframe remote applicationmanager (22) then starts the appropriate mainframe application (20) by,for example, passing the remote application the appropriate initialisingparameters. Once the mainframe application (20) has been started thesurrogate application is no longer required and the flow of informationtakes place directly along the chain formed by the other softwareelements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A workstation with a local processor for runninglocal applications and a communication system for linking saidworkstation to at least one remote processor for running remoteapplications characterised in that said workstation provides displaymeans for simultaneously displaying representations of both local andremote applications; selection means for selecting at least one of saidrepresentations; and invocation means for invoking a surrogateapplication running on said local processor, said surrogate applicationcomprising means for establishing communication with said remoteprocessor via said communication system.
 2. A workstation as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said communication system comprises means for enablingaccess by said workstation to a plurality of remote applications.
 3. Aworkstation as claimed in claim 1, wherein said workstation furthercomprises means for providing a common selection procedure for startingboth local and remote applications.
 4. A workstation as claimed in claim3, wherein said means for providing a common selection procedurecomprises means for selecting an application from a list of applicationspresented to a user.
 5. A workstation as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a display means for displaying windows.
 6. A data processingnetwork comprising a workstation with a local processor for runninglocal applications and a communication system for linking saidworkstation to at least one remote processor for running remoteapplications characterised in that said workstation provides:displaymeans for simultaneously displaying representations of both local andremote applications; selection means for selecting at least one of saidrepresentations; and invocation means for invoking a surrogateapplication running on said local processor, said surrogate applicationcomprising means for establishing communication with said remoteprocessor via said communication system.
 7. A method of operating aworkstation having a local processor for running local applications anda communication system for linking said workstation to at least oneremote processor for running remote applications, comprising the stepsof: displaying an application selection mode by said workstation inwhich representations of both local and remote applications aresimultaneously displayed; and running a surrogate application, inresponse to a remote application being selected, on said local processorto establish communication with said remote processor via saidcommunication system.
 8. A method of operating a data processing networkincluding a workstation having a local processor for running localapplications and a communication system for linking said workstation toat least one remote processor for running remote applications,comprising the steps of:displaying an application selection mode inwhich representations of both local and remote applications aresimultaneously displayed; and running a surrogate application, inresponse to a remote application being selected, on said local processorto establish communication with said remote processor via saidcommunication system.
 9. A workstation as claimed in claim 2, whereinsaid workstation further comprises means for providing a commonselection procedure for starting both local and remote applications. 10.A workstation as claimed in claim 9 wherein said means for providing acommon selection procedure comprises means for selecting an applicationfrom a list of applications presented to a user.
 11. A workstation asclaimed in claim 2 further comprising a display means for displayingwindows.
 12. A workstation as claimed in claim 3 further comprising adisplay means for displaying windows.
 13. A workstation as claimed inclaim 4 further comprising a display means for displaying windows.
 14. Aworkstation as claimed in claim 9 further comprising a display means fordisplaying windows.
 15. A data processing network having a workstationas claimed in claim 6, wherein said communication system comprises meansfor enabling access by said workstation to a plurality of remoteapplications.
 16. A data processing network having a workstation asclaimed in claim 6, wherein said workstation further comprises means forproviding a common selection procedure for starting both local andremote applications.
 17. A data processing network having a workstationas claimed in claim 16, wherein said means for providing a commonselection procedure comprises means for selecting an application from alist of applications presented to a user.
 18. A data processing networkhaving a workstation as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a displaymeans for displaying windows.